OWN’s ‘The Haves And The Have Nots’: Record Ratings, Brutal Reviews

OWN‘s first scripted drama, Tyler Perry‘s “The Have and the Have Nots,” got off to a great start among viewers, scoring record ratings, but was blasted by some critics.

The creative marriage between Perry and Oprah Winfrey — at least for now — seems to be a match made in ratings heaven for Winfrey’s OWN. Tuesday’s back-to-back episodes of “The Haves and the Have Nots” were the network’s highest-rated premiere “ever,” according to a release from OWN.

The 9 p.m. airing delivered 1.77 million viewers (1.57 million of them women age 25-54). The second episode at 10 p.m. grew to 1.8 million viewers (1.67 million were women 25-54).

However, initial reviews for the series were not kind. OWN did not send the show out to critics prior to its premiere, mirroring Perry’s policy of not allowing his films to be pre-screened for reviewers.

Brian Lowry of Variety called the show “claustrophobically cheap, not to mention poorly written and indifferently acted.” He added that the show could potentially damage Winfrey’s legacy of uplift and self-empowerment.

Stop with the hating, CRITICS……it will get you NO where….I will be watching each and everytime it aires…….

Ronald

Hating? Here we go again with the generic use of a made up term. I “hate” when folks use the word “hating” to describe anyone that doesn’t support what they support. It will get you nowhere? The point is not to reach a destination, its to express an opinion. The critics are not hating because they point out the obvious flaws in both programs. Perry doesn’t submit his material for reviews because everything he makes is trash and he doesn’t want the bad press. I’ll stop “hating” when Perry stops putting out terrible movies and TV shows.

dian

You fail to mention that his movies and shows address issues in the community, so how is that trash?

tacobell777

Critics(haters), it’s not going to work. Tyler and Oprah’s community are going to support them regardless.

Not Politically Correct

That’s our problem-supporting “regardless”-forget truth. This is why her network is going in the drain. The damn show was horrible. I wanted it to be good, but it was really-truely horrible. The critics aren’t hating-just telling the truth. We, as black people, can’t even be honest with ourselves. Or is the threshold for talent just that low that we can’t recognize crap from crap and call it compost.

lisalisa

I wanted to like it but the writing and acting were so bad. Everything about the production looked cheap. I was surprised at the the poor quality.

Actingismypassion

I think the acting is great…idk how anyone can criticize the acting. The storyline is interesting so far. I’ll keep watching until I have a reason to stop.

speech_lady

This show needs a “Shonda Rhymes” makeover.

amanda

Totally agree, she could’ve recycled Good Times. Ready for Scandal’s new season

Nikki

I will say this. I love what Tyler Perry puts out. I happen to like “Have and..”. My problem is with “Love thy…”. That woman is CRAZY!! I would love to see her tone down some and sometimes it seems like overkill. Again, I will say that I am a Tyler Perry fan.